STEVENS POINT - Police are as king for the public's help in the search for a man accused of trying to get a 14-year-old girl to get in his vehicle Wednesday in Stevens Point.

The girl's mom told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin in an interview that her daughter was ready to use pepper spray if needed. But it never came to that.

The girl was walking near the corner of First Street and Fifth Avenue about 2:35 p.m. when a man pulled up in what the Stevens Point Police Department described as a shiny, black SUV. The driver, who appeared to be in his mid-30s, gestured for the girl to remove her headphones. She ignored him and kept walking, according to police.

He followed her to a stop sign and again wanted her to remove her headphones. As she kept walking, the man asked where she was going and if she wanted a ride. Police say the man then told the girl to get in the car. When the girl reached into her backpack for her pepper spray, the man made a U-turn and sped from the scene.

Ann Kluck, the girl's mother, said she and her husband recently bought each of their daughters a pepper-spray key chain and are grateful their 14-year-old daughter had it on her and knew how to use it.

The man is described as being tan with a trimmed, full beard that is "orange/brown" in color and a "messy" crew-cut of the same color, according to Kluck. Police say he was wearing a bright neon green shirt.

Kluck said a similar incident happened to one of her older daughters two years ago, when a man in a car pulled up to her while she was walking near Pacelli High School and demanded she get in his car.

Kluck said she doesn't think any young girls or women should walk by themselves and encourages everyone to have a means of protecting themselves.

Contact Sgt. Robert Kussow at 715-346-1515 or, to remain anonymous, Portage County Crimestoppers at 888-346-6600 if you have any information about the incident.